People in Hollywood love spouting off on social injustices when it’s from a distance or doesn’t really affect them. When standing up to these injustices could affect their bottom line, a silence suddenly chills the air from the west. Filmmakers Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams are currently in the hot seat as they are moving ahead with plans to shoot in Georgia.

Abrams diplomatically has said that he hopes to make a change in “other ways,” but we have heard that time and again from people who know they are going against what they preach while trying to justify their actions. Word is that they plan on using the proceeds from the show to fight new abortion laws. They are still putting money into the state of Georgia’s coffers though.

One of the best ways to let them know that you stand up for your own rights is to contact HBO directly and let them know that you have no intention of watching their show “Lovecraft County” if it shoots there.

Georgia and
Hollywood are worlds away from one another, physically and culturally, but
irresistible tax incentives have turned the state into a filming powerhouse
dubbed “Hollywood of the South.” Productions as big as Marvel Studios’
superhero blockbusters and shows like “Stranger Things” and “The Walking Dead”
call the state home base, and some have not shied away from throwing their
weight around when values clash with proposed laws.

But in the week since
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law one of the nation’s most restrictive
abortion laws, none of the major film or television studios have commented on
the issue or altered production plans. The backlash has been limited to smaller
production companies, like Color Force (“Crazy Rich Asians”), Killer Films
(“First Reformed”), “The Wire” creator David Simon of Blown Deadline
Productions (HBO’s “The Deuce”) and the Duplass Brothers Productions (HBO’s
“Room 104”). Some actors and actresses, like Alyssa Milano, Mark Hamill and
Mandy Moore, have suggested they will boycott filming in the state.

Jordan Peele and J.J.
Abrams, meanwhile, are proceeding with plans to shoot their HBO show “Lovecraft
County” in Georgia in the next few weeks, but have said that they will donate
100% their “episodic fees” to organizations fighting the law including the ACLU
of Georgia and Fair Fight Georgia.

The muted reaction is in
striking contrast to what happened just three years ago when Netflix and Disney threatened to pull productions if a law allowing faith-based refusal of
services to LGBTQ persons was passed. Other companies also publicly denounced
that proposed law, including AMC, Time Warner, Lionsgate, Sony, NBC Universal
and CBS.

Georgia’s “heartbeat bill”
would ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as
six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. Unless it’s blocked in
court, it is set to go into effect in 2020. The ACLU has already said the group
will mount a legal challenge.

“Film and television
production in Georgia supports more than 92,000 jobs and brings significant
economic benefits to communities and families,” said Chris Ortman, a spokesman
for the industry lobbying group The Motion Picture Association of America in a
statement last week. “It is important to remember that similar legislation has
been attempted in other states, and has either been enjoined by the courts or
is currently being challenged.”

The MPAA said it continues
to monitor developments.

Some believe knowing they
still have time until 2020 is part of the reason big entertainment industry
players haven’t spoken out yet. Another is that for some the issue intersects
with religious beliefs and few companies want to wade into that territory. Others
point to resistance to boycotts among critics of the law in Georgia.

Matt Donnelly, a senior
film writer for the Hollywood trade Variety, noted that the same day some
called for boycotts, there were also a “wave of stories that it had fizzled
out” in part because of pledges like the one Abrams and Peele made to donate
money but keep production in the state.

“That to me is a sort of
murky pivot that allows people to keep their jobs and tax rebates and also
seemingly support the cause,” Donnelly said. ”(It’s) more of a solution for
Hollywood than it is addressing the values and the morality the boycott raises
for women across this industry.”

Kemp recently postponed an
annual trip to promote his state’s film industry in Los Angeles after Georgia
film executives worried that protests and no-shows could taint the industry
mixer, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported .

Many Georgians, from
politicians to the people who work on film sets, worry about the adverse
effects of the law.

Stacey Abrams, who narrowly
lost a contentious gubernatorial race against Kemp, tweeted Wednesday that she
respects the calls
for a boycott, “but I do not believe it is the most effective, strategic
choice for change.”

In an
interview with the LA Times, Abrams offered Hollywood a different alternative
to a boycott. Why not stay and join in the fight?

“Georgia is the only state that is such a deep part of the film industry
that also has the type of draconian leadership that would seek to strip a
woman’s autonomy in this way,” said Abrams. “That puts us in a unique position
to fight back — not only against the legislation here but the legislation
around the country — and to fund the defeat of these politicians and their
horrible behavior by using the resources available through the entertainment
industry.”

Georgia’s Democratic
lawmakers have urged Hollywood to keep production in the state. Boycotts, some
say, are not the response they’re looking for.

The impact would not only be felt by actors, directors and writers but also by low-income Georgians and small businesses contracted to provide catering, maintenance and construction, said Krystal Redman, executive director of SPARK Reproductive Justice Now, a grassroots Georgia group that has advocated against the abortion law.

Molly Coffee, a film
production designer in Georgia, helped start a petition with other women in the
film industry urging Hollywood not to leave the state and emphasizing her
commitment to fight the new abortion law.

“It’s very easy, from
California, to make a statement that you’re not going to spend your dollars in
Georgia,” Coffee said. “It’s important for people to ask the women of Georgia
how they feel.”

Staci Fox, CEO of Planned
Parenthood Southeast, said a boycott would be counterproductive.

“I understand the power of
a boycott but I’m not in favor of any Georgian losing their job because when women
lose their jobs the first thing that goes is women’s health care,” Fox said.
“They stop accessing birth control or stop getting pap smears and then we get
in this loop where now we’re facing unintended pregnancy.”

Fox instead urged those
with big platforms to remind Georgians that abortion is still legal, adding
that the organization is getting hundreds of confused phone calls from
concerned women.

Heather Hutton, a
filmmaker in Georgia who started out working on set design for “The Walking
Dead,” said she would like to see Hollywood stay and fight.

“Women would like to see
Hollywood stand next to us and fight with us because we don’t have deep pockets
like they do,” she said.

“While I understand the calls for a boycott in Georgia, I’m going to
follow a different path,” said J.J. Abrams. “I think the superior opportunity
for Georgia, in the specific, is to actually use the entertainment industry’s
energy to support and fund the work that we need to do on the ground because
Georgia is on the cusp of being able to transform our political system.”

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